Vendor Touts Access Solution for Ops

7/25/1999 8:00 PM Eastern

By: BILL MENEZES

A vendor is touting a solution for cable operators toeffectively offer customers access to multiple Internet-service providers over theirnetworks.

While the political and business aspects of "openaccess" are being debated, CableWeb Systems Inc. contended that itsdynamic-bandwidth-management software has helped to enable competitive Internet access infield deployments without the technical degradation that some warned would result fromsharing cable bandwidth.

"There are two areas where you need to manage sharedbandwidth: from the CMTS [cable-modem-termination system] to the subscriber, or from ashared connection between multiple ISPs to the Internet backbone," said Steve Getz,president and cofounder of Allentown, Pa.-based CableWeb. "We've addressedthat."

CableWeb developed the solution as an offshoot of itsinitial work developing hardware and software for a telephone-return cable-modem system.

The company's "BAM-DS" bandwidth-management and"BAM-OA" security and usage-monitoring software are deployed in the cableheadend.

BAM-OA secures control for the system operator of equipmentconnected to its network and of bandwidth allocated to individual ISPs that lease access.BAM-DS manages bandwidth, letting the operator adjust transfer rates for individual users,monitor usage patterns and identify potential system overloads.

CableWeb CEO Dan Gold, a former cable-unit president atCentury Communications Corp., said the software polls each customer's usage 56 times persecond, automatically adjusting bandwidth controls in real time based on subscriberdemands and network conditions.

"We determine whether anyone is overusing thesystem," Gold said, "and we apportion the utilization in such a fashion that westep down the heavy users very quickly so other people don't suffer slow speeds."

Gold added that Comcast Corp. deployed CableWeb's solutionin Dover, Del., more than one year ago, at the personal invitation of Comcast presidentBrian Roberts, to enable cable-modem subscribers to pick from multiple ISPs.

But Gold said the MSO -- which joined other operators lastweek in suing to block new open-access mandates in Broward County, Fla. -- scrapped thetrial days before an expected commercial launch, as the open-access debate escalated.

"It not only worked in that system nicely, but itactually did something the cable industry now doesn't really want to talk about -- itaccommodated in that system multiple ISPs," Gold said. "They've been saying,'You can't do that.'"

Blue Ridge Cable Television in Pennsylvania has also testedCableWeb's solution, he added.

Aside from their policy objections to being forced to sellaccess on two-way cable networks to multiple competitive ISPs, some cable operators saidtheir systems were not set up to handle the demands of multiple ISPs sharing a single6-megahertz cable channel.

GTE Corp. and America Online Inc. in June announced asuccessful two-month trial of an "off-the-shelf" open-access solution operatingon GTE's Clearwater, Fla., network using several ISPs.

But cable-modem service Excite@Home quickly published alengthy rebuttal to GTE's claims, saying that they were flawed and that adapting a cablenetwork for use by customers of multiple competing ISPs would be expensive and technicallyvery difficult.

Excite@Home -- which has experienced a variety of highlypublicized service problems in several markets -- also said there was no way to adequatelypartition the shared channel efficiently.

Getz agreed that there were a variety of technical issuesattendant to open access. But he said CableWeb's solution addressed the biggest issue.

"The core issue is the management of bandwidth,"he said. "You can't offer open access to a cable system without complete andeffective management of bandwidth. Otherwise, you would have the type of routing andbandwidth problems @Home is alluding to."